Retrofitness Partners with Equity Firm

Colts Neck, NJ — Retrofitness, a 1980s-themed club company with 39 franchised clubs in operation and 80 more franchised clubs in development, recently announced a partnership with Lake Capital, a Chicago-based private equity firm that invests in service-based companies.

The partnership should help Retrofitness in its plans to expand across the country, says Retrofitness founder and CEO Eric Casaburi, who also plans to open 25 corporate clubs. Casaburi would like to have 100 total clubs by 2009, 200 by 2010 and at least 300 by the start of 2011.

Most of the Retrofitness clubs are in New Jersey and Pennsylvania with a few clubs in Massachusetts, Delaware, Florida and Connecticut.

Casaburi, who did not disclose the amount of the transaction, says he remains a large equity stakeholder in the partnership.

“It's not a typical private equity deal where the equity owner gets a small percentage and the equity firm has a huge percentage,” Casaburi says.